Stephen P. Hubbell (born February 17, 1942) is an American

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

known for his work on tropical rainforests,

theoretical ecology Theoretical ecology is the scientific discipline devoted to the study of ecosystem, ecological systems using theoretical methods such as simple conceptual models, mathematical models, computer simulation, computational simulations, and advanced d ...

, and

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

. He is a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

and the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. Hubbell is the author of the unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography, former chair of the

National Council for Science and the Environment The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) is a U.S.-based nonpartisan, non-profit organization which has a mission to improve the scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the for ...

, co-founder of the CTFS Forest Global Earth Observatory, a researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and a fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. In 2016, he was awarded the International Prize for Biology.

Life and career

Hubbell received a B.A. in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

from

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...

in 1963 and a PhD in

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1969. He is author of the unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography (UNTB), which seeks to explain the diversity and relative abundance of

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in ecological communities not by niche differences but by stochastic processes (

random walk In mathematics, a random walk, sometimes known as a drunkard's walk, is a stochastic process that describes a path that consists of a succession of random steps on some Space (mathematics), mathematical space. An elementary example of a rand ...

) among ecologically equivalent species. Hubbell is also a senior staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa,

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. He is also well known for tropical forest studies. In 1980, he and Robin B. Foster of the Field Museum in Chicago, launched the first of the 50 hectare forest dynamics studies on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. This plot became the flagship of a global network of large permanent forest dynamics plots, all following identical measurement protocols. This global network now has more than 70 plots in 28 countries, and these plots contain more than 12000 tree species and 7 million individual trees that are tagged, mapped, and monitored long-term for growth, survival and recruitment. The Center for Tropical Forest Science coordinates research across global network of plots through the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The program has expanded into the temperate zone, and is now known as the Forest Global Earth Observatory Network or ForestGEO. In 1988, while a Professor at Princeton University, he founded the Committee for the National Institutes of the Environments (CNIE), a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., on his fellowship from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The goal of the CNIE was to promote the creation of a government agency called the National Institutes of the Environment (NIE), modeled on the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

. After a dozen years, the organization became the

, whose mission is "to improve the scientific basis of environmental decision-making." Hubbell was born in Gainesville,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

.Curriculum vitae: Stephen P. Hubbell
He earned his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

at the

, in 1969. As a professor at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, he taught graduate courses for the Organization for Tropical Studies in

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

. Later, at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, as a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, he continued study of the population biology of tropical trees. In 2003, Hubbell became Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of Georgia. As a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

at the Pew Institute for Ocean Science, Hubbell initiated the establishment of the

(NCSE), which works with the parties that create and use environmental knowledge to influence environmental decisions. Hubbell is married to evolutionary ecologist Patricia Adair Gowaty, who is also a Distinguished Professor at the

Honors and awards

*American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow, 1980 *Pew Fellows Program in Conservation and the Environment, Fellow, 1990 *National Council for Science and the Environment, Chair, 1991– *American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 2003 *W.S. Cooper Award, Ecological Society of America, 2006 *Eminent Ecologist Award, Ecological Society of America, 2009 * International Prize for Biology, 2016

Publications

References

External links

*Scientific America
Interview with Steve Hubbell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbell, Stephen P. American ecologists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of Georgia faculty 1942 births Living people Carleton College alumni University of Michigan faculty Fellows of the Ecological Society of America Neutral theory